Fantasy Baseball Today - Live H2H Points Draft Part 2! Mid-Late Round Picks & Strategy (3/31 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 31, 2022

Round 11 starts with Logan Gilbert and the last of the profit pocket (0:30). ... Woah, there! Julio Rodriguez just went in the 13th round (9:53). ... Jesus Luzardo and Triston McKenzie go to start the 15th round (19:38). Hunter Greene also went in round 16! ... Randal Grichuk and Jon Gray kick off round 17 (33:12). ... Frank made a blunder in the round 18/19 turn (41:40)! ... Rookie Matt Brash goes in the final round (49:50). ... We wrap up by recapping our teams (55:40). 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. All right, welcome back to part two of our live 12-team head-to-head points listener league. I left off the previous hour with Logan Gilbert. I took with the second pick of round 11.

and then Luis Severino, who does have Spark eligibility in this format. That's a starting pitcher as a relief pitcher. And then Luke Voight, a great pick. The last edition of the Profit Pocket goes here in round 11, 124th overall, which makes a lot more sense than what we've seen in ADP over the past couple of weeks. Yeah, I don't know where they're getting that data from because it doesn't seem like anybody we're drafting with

is letting Voight slide outside the top 200 still. but I guess data's data, right? It's coming from somewhere, Scott, and I'll tell you exactly where? It's coming from NFEC. Is he like not projected to start somewhere? Like, I don't know. It's hard to make sense of it.

It seems like an obvious, and it seemed like everybody agreed when he got traded, that it was an obvious opportunity for him to play every day. Oof, and then we get the back-to-back utility bats. So Fran Mill Reyes and then Nelson Cruz. Reyes, we spoke about on yesterday's podcast as well. Wouldn't surprise me if he earns outfield eligibility, maybe not the first couple of weeks.

Maybe by the end of April, that wouldn't surprise me. On CBS, you only need five starts at a position to earn eligibility in season. So I think we'll get that at some point, probably the first month for Fran Mulraeus. And then Chris, you select Patrick Sandoval. So you're diving in on the breakouts here. First, Erod, and now Patrick Sandoval. Yeah, I mean, this is the format.

and generally when we tend to do these head-to-head points leagues, especially when we're actually playing them out. ADP tends to get thrown out the window when it comes to starting pitchers, and so you reach a point about a hundredth overall, and it's just get your guys. And Eduardo Rodriguez and Patrick Chandoval are two of my guys. If they don't have good seasons, I'm going to have a bad fantasy season. I'm about to take another of your guys, Chris.

Unacceptable. A spark by the name of Michael Kopeck. Yeah, yeah, he's a good guy. Yep, my first reliever. I was waiting. Like, I didn't want to take him when Ricella Iglesias and Manuel Class A were on the board. Like, that just felt hard to justify. So I waited until they went.

And then Luis Severino also went. I was like, oh, crap, did I wait too long? Because I'm kind of with Chris now, like, with the arm issue Severino is dealing with. Let's move him behind Kopec among the Sparps. So happy to get him. All right. Sounds a good pick. Look, he's a dynamite arm.

I think he's going to be awesome when he pitches. I saw some comments earlier in the offseason from Rick Hahn, who is either their GM or president of baseball operations there. And he was talking about how they won him fresh for the end of the season, for a postseason run. So I still think he's going to bounce around a little bit. I think he'll probably get to 120 inning, something like that, which, you know, I think that'll probably look something like 18.

to 20 starts, and then the rest will be in the bullpen. But either way, he's going to be very valuable whenever he starts. Yeah, well, hopefully. I prefer that's how it plays out where they have periods where he's on and periods where he's off and preserve his innings that way, as opposed to a bunch of four innings starts. Because if it's a bunch of four inning starts, I'm not going to get much value out of that,

especially in this format. So I'm hoping he's handled more like, I don't know, like the brewers handled Freddie Peralta last year, than I should have an alternate example ready to go if I'm going to go there. But, you know, like, I don't know. Julio Reyes in the past? Yeah, Julio Rees in the past. Who's a good example from last year?

I mean, Tony Gonsolin. I'll go with him. Yeah. Didn't it throughout his career hasn't gone very deep into starts when he's been in the rotation? And after you selected Michael Kopeck, Mitch Hanager, I think a great pick at this point as well, 129th overall, Ian Anderson, Edwin Diaz, Luis Garcia of the Houston Astros that finished us out round 11. And then starting round 12, Matt Chapman and Mitch Garver. I think two more great picks here. Chapman, that's the name that I clicked on that I was about to select. And I was like, oh, wait,

I drafted Bobby Witt, who's going to earn third base eligibility. So I still could have selected Matt Chapman. I think he's a fine pick at this point, but I wound up with Logan Gilbert instead. And points leagues, we've seen Chapman go very late in the past, like round 15 and beyond. So, you know, maybe I was a little too comfortable waiting on him as somebody sitting here without a third baseman yet. Do you ever hear of third baseman yet, Chris? Yes, I have Chris Bryant. So the one most concerned about filling third base early is the one who doesn't have a third baseman yet. Does somebody time out here?

Did they just go on autopilot purposely? I believe they timed out. So I'm right in the chat to see if they want to stick with that pick. But if I don't hear anything, then any Rosario will be the pick at 135th. Pretty early, but okay. Yeah, so third base, what's left? At Alberto Mondesi, Josh Donaldson. and then a whole

DJ LaMayhew some people might be into that then a whole lot of nothing I don't want to take any of those guys now does that mean like is somebody else am I going to get just continued to

like no matter where you're targeting third base you're going to have to reach for the guy with the exception of Jose Ramirez and arguably with the exception of Raphael Devers and Mani Machado though you know I've recently moved Devers up into my first round,

which some people would consider a reach. So it's just like there's no way you can get away with just taking a third basement at face value. I mean, Nolan Aaron Otto might be the closest one in the leagues where he goes round six or later. All right, so we did wind up backing out that pick of Eddie Rosario

and they selected Danesby Swanson instead. And then Kenley Jansen goes. And Scott, you are back up. We haven't checked in on your team in a while. So let's take a look what we've got. I do like, by the way, if anyone's watching here on YouTube, it might be a little distracting, but I like the gifts that are part of like the team logos.

So I've got to find a way to work one of those into mine. I like it. Scott, you have one of those. I do, yeah. My team name is White Noise, and it's, you know, the static on an old TV when you turn off the Nintendo. All right, Scott, so you've got Salvador Perez, Josh Bell, Jose Al Tuvae, Beau Bichette, Kyle Swilbert, Brian Reynolds,

and then your pitchers, Adam Wainwright, Max Scherzer, Charlie Morton, you Darvish for an average age of, I would say, like, 37, and then Michael Kopeck. So, you know, that brings the average age down a little bit, so it helps you out. Yeah, I'm going to go Jack Flaherty here. I don't have an injury stash yet. I came close to drafting Tatis. I came close to drafting Sale.

I would have rather drafted Tatis in sale. But in theory, Jack Flaherty, I think recent, the latest on him is they discovered a flaw in his mechanics that is responsible for the Bersidas he's feeling right now, at least in theory. And, you know, they're going to start building him up soon. So hopefully he's back by mid-May, and hopefully he's the high-end pitcher we believe him to be, two of the three of us, at least believe him to be. Oh, right. Let's see, what has happened? you selected Jack Flaherty, and then Jake Cronoworth, Joey Gallo,

and Mike Clevenger, who got destroyed. I thought about taking Clevenger. I wasn't sure if I should. I need some offense still, so I passed on it, but I definitely thought about it. I thought about Croninworth. I like the,

like I don't want any, I don't want a bunch of hitters on my bench in this format. Croninworth is triple eligible. So it's like, if you're going to have anybody on your bench, be great if it's a guy like that. And, you know, Kroninworth last year in this format, averaged his many points per game. 2.97 is what he averaged.

That's, I mean, it was more than Josh Bell, actually, although Josh Bell was obviously held back by his miserable April. No, Kroner was not on my bench for what it's worth. Okay. Yeah. He's my starting second baseman. Understandable. Understandable that I was, if I had taken him,

that it would be with, you know, maybe not technically on my bench. Yeah. But that would enable. me to put like an upside bat on my bench because I already had this versatile guy. All right. Let's catch everybody up. After Clevenger went, then Ryan Presley lasted very long. Round 12 here. Someone I consider an elite closer. Then Hyun Jin Ryu, Kabor Ruiz went to me. I think this is a format that should play well for him. A high batting average makes a lot of contact. Even if it's not power that he's providing, home runs rather, then I think those will be doubles,

which also, again, should play well here. Then Shane Boz and Tyler Stevenson to kick off round 13. Boz, someone that could start on the IL as well, recently got some loose bodies removed from his elbow. They seem optimistic that he'll be throwing in a couple of weeks, but I also think that they'll be cautious, obviously a big arm, big prospect,

someone they're going to need later on in the season. So I think they will be cautious with one Shane Boz. And I am back up. There are a few things that I'm thinking about. All right, let's... What's thinking about, Frank? I don't know. It's tough because I want to talk it through, right?

Well, I've got 10 seconds left, so I probably should decide what I want to do, right? I don't think. Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and grab one of the last elite closers. I just don't know how many closers are going to have jobs, right? So, like, we just talked about that on yesterday's podcast as well. give some bullpen updates, the Giants, the Dodgers. Everyone's going by committee. Oof, talk about that next pick too.

I select Jordan Romano, someone I consider, again, one of those top eight or nine elite closers, and I feel very safe about his job. What about the job of Julio Rodriguez? Will he get the job? I don't know, but man, he just went in the 13th round, 147th overall, has looked very good so far in spring. I read earlier that he made a base running mistake,

steak and he struck out three times and I think he lost the ball on the sun. So it's not the great spring. Not the greatest showing for him on on Wednesday, but overall he's been very good. No, and I think this, the ration, the same rationale for drafting Fernando Tatis kind of applies for Julio Rodriguez, where if it doesn't work out, you know, whatever. What's a round 13 pick in a league where only 250 players are rostered, you know? Could be, could pay huge dividends. Yeah, he could.

You know, be this year's prospect breakout, you know, go something like 25 and 15. I mean, if he's up the entire season, I don't think that's crazy. Obviously, that's like the upside possibility for him. But it's, yeah, it's there. It is a rain in his range of outcomes. After Julio Rodriguez, Carlos Carrasco, then Anthony Rizzo, Arolda's Chapman, and, oh, hey, there's another Mariners outfielder with a ton of upside. That's Jared Kelnick.

I mean, Chris, what do you think? Is the helium getting too far on Julio Rodriguez if he's now going ahead of Jared Kelnik? I don't know. I mean, they're similarly talented players. And Julio Rodriguez was awesome at, you know, his first taste of the minors last season, whereas Jared Kalanick was really, really bad in the major. So I think it's justifiable. And it's not like, like Jared Kalinick was really, really good in the high minors.

But he wasn't necessarily so much better than Julio Rodriguez that, you know, you would, would say that he's a safer pick. So I don't know. I think it's fine. Like if Rodriguez is going to be on the everyday, on the opening day roster, I would think you probably want to draft

the two of them pretty close to one another. But I do still have Kellanick ranked higher. So I'm happy to take him there and snack some upside for my outfit. You know, with the Fernando Tatis pick, I'm kind of playing a hitter short. So I do need to chase some upside there.

All right. And then Scott, very next pick, you select Noah Cindergarde who made his official spring debut the other day, and he pitched well, but there were reports afterwards that the fastball velocity was 93 to 95 miles per hour, whereas a couple of years ago, he was 97.7. I don't know that we need to overreact too much. You know, it's his first start of the spring. He could get built up as the season goes along, but what do you think your overall thoughts here on Noah Cindergarde this season? Yeah, I mean, I think it's definitely

worth a shot at this point. I don't feel any safer with the other two of that Tommy John Trio, Luis Severino and Mike Clevenger. Cindergards, other than the velocity thing, Cinder guards look the best so far. His secondaries are playing well.

And the latest report is they're not going to hold them to an innings limit this year, which they're going to go six-man a lot of the time because of Otani. So maybe the innings limit is kind of already built in for Cindergarde. But with, with Jack Flaherty being my fifth starting pitcher taken, assuming we're counting Michael Kopeck as a reliever,

I needed somebody that I could start in week one, and Cindergarde was the last available in a tier for me. There was the last available player in another tier. There was a last player in a tier at another position, I should say, that I considered instead, hoping he mixed it back to me with my next pick. All right, let's see if that actually happens. The next pick after Cindergarde, Calquantrell, who has SPARP eligibility in this format,

so you can use him as a relief pitcher, a little bit of a cheat code there on CBS Sports. I don't know how good Cal Quantrell actually is. He was awesome last year. The hard contact suppression was really, really strong for him, but it doesn't get a ton of strikeouts. So we'll see how he builds off that here in 2022. After he goes, Randy Rosarina, Jorge Salare,

and Ryan Moutcastle. So a bit of a run here on outfielders. You know how, you know, this is a listeners league because Randy a Rosarena just went in round 13 that is not his best format but even so

yeah if we're if we were drafting with other experts around the industry he would have gone five rounds earlier than this at least yeah he strikes out quite a bit but he still average three fantasy points per game last year so yeah he's not a total John Carlos Stanton

yeah he's worth he's not a total dud he's you know he's pretty good so well I mean we don't think he's really as good as he was last year, or at least there's a lot of downside there. But yeah, I mean, if he's just who he was last year, it'll be a good value. All right. And then to kick off round 14,

John Means Business, and then Sonny Gray and Anthony Descartescoffani. So some starting pitchers off the board. By the way, what I thought you were going to reference, Scott, is you know how this is a listener league? Is that Ryan Malkassel lasted to pick 156? Ooh, we'll talk about it. Mountcastle's ADP is 115.6 over on fantasy pros

and he lasts about 40 picks after that. The pick that has Scott up in arms, Sayas Suzuki, someone I considered at my pick as well. He would have been my third outfielder. He had his first home run of the spring on Wednesday. And look, he's striking out a lot right now. I think there's going to be a little bit of a transition period for him. But when he's right, really strong plate discipline should walk a lot.

could be a guy who really is good in this format, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I consider him at my pick, and honestly, I looked up and there was 10 seconds left. If I actually thought about it, I might have selected Seiz Suzuki over Jordan Romano. Kind of wish I did, but anyway, here we are, Scott. You've got 10 seconds left. Yeah, that was the pick.

That was the guy at the other position who I wanted to take. I'm going to take Kyle Hendricks because Carlos Carrasco is already gone. and I don't think this is going to be one of those leagues where that forgotten ace trio lasts much deep. I mean, it's round 14, so we're already pretty deep into things, right? Yeah, I'll take Hendricks. All right, fair enough.

And Chris, you are on the clock. We haven't checked it on your team in a while, so let's do exactly that. See what you got going on. You've got Will Smith at Catcher, Reese Hoskins, Jake Cronomworth, Chris Brian, Zander Bogartz, Mike Trout, and Jared Kellnick,

in your outfield. Shohei Otani at Utility. Then you've got Robbie Ray, Eduardo Rodriguez, Dylan Seas, Patrick Sandoval as you're starting pitchers. You've got Fernando Tatis on the bench. And now you just selected Aaron Ashby,

who has SPARP eligibility, assuming that he actually starts for the Brewers. Yeah, I mean, he very well may not be in their rotation to start the season, but love the upside of him as a SPARP. Figure I'd chase him upside there as well. there's still enough starting pitchers

and relief pitchers who are actual relief pitchers available that I'm not too worried about having someone for that spot if Ashby's not in the rotation to start the season. I just moved Aaron Ashby into Sleepers 3.0

now available for reading on CBSSports.com. Yes, make sure to go check it out. Support all the great writing that Scott and Chris do. I don't write as much as these guys. I don't see how it would be humanly possible to write as much as these guys do. So along with

listening and watching the podcast, make sure to read everything they put out as well. All right, after Aaron Ashby, Blake Trinan, Giovanni Gallegos, Lourdes Gareel, Eddie Rosario. I mean, okay, any other players that Frank likes say you guys want to draft right before my pick?

One of the hitters I was debating at my last pick was actually Josh Donaldson. So I'm going to go ahead and select him and I guess I could just play him at third base and leave Bobby Witt as my utility bat if I want to, or if it makes me feel better, I'll just move Bobby Witt's a third base

and play Josh Donaldson as my util. But anyway, I think he's fine. And Stackass page was awesome last year. He's got to stay on the field. They're talking about him leading off for the Yankees. So he walks a lot on base percentage. So to score a lot of runs. Yeah, I think he should be very good in this format

whenever he plays. Man, this, like, the group of people that are drafting right around me right now are just, absolutely. crushing me. So at the turn here, Jesus Lozardo and Tristan McKenzie. I mean, it's my own fault. I should have just selected one of those guys before Josh Donaldson. But the thing is, this is the kind of draft where it makes you rethink how you approach your future picks because there are a couple other sleeper pitchers that

I still have in my queue, but like, given the way they're all coming off the board, can I afford to pass on one of them? I don't know if I can. I don't know that the quality of hitters and we had a mock draft like our latest head to head points mock draft played out like this where you reach a point in the hitter rankings and it's just like they're all the same and so everybody starts taking pitchers you know and that's that's how we ended up in a league where 252 players are rostered our last head to head points mock like dame dunning was drafted because everybody just stopped drafting hitters completely and i feel like we're at that point in this draft with maybe a couple of exceptions. All right. We are into round 15 now. Trista McKenzie. I mentioned the first pick,

and then I selected Alex Wood. Alex Wood, like, when he's on the field, I do have quite a bit of injury risk on my team, but he was awesome last year when he pitched. So I saw a report, I think maybe I heard it on another podcast.

Eno Saris mentioned that the velocity has been up for Alex Wood during spring training and the Giants get the best out of their starting pitchers. I think they'll do that once again. So one of my rules this draft season, come away with at least one Giants pitcher in every draft. So one of the Alexes, Wood or Cobb,

Descalfani is part of that mix. I'm coming around on Carlos Rodon as well. So please, give me at least one Giants starting pitcher. Speaking of the Giants, Jake McGee, 171st overall. And he goes ahead of Camillo DeValle. So we were just talking about that yesterday, too. I think in this format,

like I, because I said on yesterday's, podcast, they'd still take Deval ahead of McGee. I think in this format, it makes sense to take McGee first. In this format, DeVal shouldn't be taken at all because there's not really any incentive to take a reliever who's not getting you saves right now. If it changes, you can go to the waiver wire. There are always undrafted save sources in ahead-to-head points league with only two relief pitcher spots. So just, you just go for the guys who are going to give you immediate help at that position. All right, Zach Grinke, the next pick here.

Scott remind me, is he part of the forgotten Ace Trio? It's a trio, Frank. You got Carasco, you got Hendricks, who's the third? It's Zach Grinkey. It's Zach Grinke. All right, and he was just named the opening day starter for the Kansas City Royals. And just after Zach Granky goes,

Alex Cobb. I'm sorry, Chris. That's pretty much all the sleeper pitchers for me. I might have caused that too because I accidentally named drop so I apologize. Joe Ryan, you know a Joe Ryan fan? He just he just went right after. He's not there either. Yeah. Joe Ryan, by the way, the fastball velocity has been up a little bit here in spring training. So, wow, what, 91? Yeah. I actually think he's up around like 93. Last year,

it was like 91.8. So he's up like, you know, 1.2 miles per hour. But for someone who relies as much as he does on deception, I think every mile per hour can actually help Joe Ryan. So, oh, well, yeah, I mean, for most pictures, it helps unless they're really heavy on the secondaries. Yeah. But Joe Ryan absolutely isn't. Joe Ryan is it like the fastball. You know, every time I point this out, Frank, you say, hey, he's got a pretty good slider too. So I'll just preempt that. But like, the fastball is the make or break pitch.

Nobody knows why it's effective. I've heard, I've read a theory that it has to do with his arm angle. It's just such an unusual arm angle. but there's not much spin on it, there's not much sink on it, there's not much velocity on it. Yeah, for some reason that fastball is super effective and he throws it like two thirds of the time.

Yeah, so it's actually something that's become more popular in I think fantasy baseball, and just baseball in general, like Sabremetrics the past couple of years, is Vertico approach angle, and that's something that apparently Joe Ryan and his teammate Bailey Ober, they both excel at.

So I tweeted this article out earlier in the office, season. I would encourage everyone to go check it out. It's by John Foley, and it's on Twinkytown.com. It's their SB Nation website for the Twins. And it explains how vertical approach angle, how it helps sneaky

fastballs, basically. And Joe Ryan is like the poster child for this. So if you want to learn more about it, I definitely would point you in that direction. After Joe Ryan went, Joe Adele, great pick, Chris. I considered selecting him as well. And this probably isn't his preferred format. He's still going to

strikeout quite a bit. By the way, in spring training, his strikeout rate is only 22%. It's like 25 at last. It was 23% last season. So, I mean, if it, in you know, 30 something games that he played, but yeah, if, like, it's sort of like if he's as good as we

think he can be, it doesn't really matter. It's like Byron Buxton last season where like it's not his ideal format, but if Joe Adele plays like we think Joe Adele can, then it doesn't, the format doesn't matter. And I'll give everybody a little sneak peek into the fantasy baseball today newsletter, which is coming out later this week.

Our buddy Dan Schneier puts that together. Please go to CBSports.com slash newsletters, and you can sign up for free. He does, you know, put a lot of work into it. And he asks us a roundtable panel discussion, who is the one hitter that you need to come away with in every draft this weekend? And Joe Adele was that hitter for me. So it looks like that's not going to happen. So unfortunately.

You know who the header was for me, Frank? Oh, he got Scott. Salvador Perez, come on. So I wanted to choose later options because, you know, sometimes the early to mid-round picks, it's like you might be at the mercy of where you're drafting at, so it's a little bit tougher. But yeah, Joe Adele has been awesome. Three homers, three steals so far in the preseason. He looks very good.

After Joe Adele, Scott selected Aaron Savale, then Austin Meadows, Tony Gonselin, Trevor Bauer, and Zach Gowan. That finishes out round 15. Zach Gallen made his spring debut on Wednesday. I saw that his Vila was up across the board, one mile per hour on every pitch. So that's a good sign. That's actually very encouraging for Zach Allen.

I think something to pay attention to for him. Round 16 begins with Terrick Scouble, Tommy Edmund, and Brendan Rogers. All right, Scott, you are on the clock. Do you have any idea what you're going to do? I think I know what I want to do. All right. I think so, Frank.

Well, I'll let you think about it until we get to your pick. Chris. No, no, no. Okay, go ahead, go ahead. I wanted to ask Chris about Zach Allen's start here on Wednesday afternoon. I know he's dealing with the shoulder off-season injury last year. He had the elbow and the forearm. What do you take away from Wednesday's performance?

Does that give you any optimism when drafting him? I mean, it's like we've been saying all along. It's, you know, the first question with someone like Zach Allen is, is he currently healthy? And as of today, it does seem as if Zach Allen is currently healthy. So that's the first question. It's just the next question is, can he be good? And the fact that the velocity was up is a good sign.

Only three swinging strikes on 36 pitches overall. All three of them came on the fastball. He really didn't throw his other pitches. Well, I guess 20 fastballs on 36 pitches. That's only like 55%. I guess that's an okay rate. But yeah, I don't think you can learn too much except that he is currently healthy. That's the only real answer we've gotten.

But when you get to this point, draft. Supposedly, he was healthy for the final three and a half months last year, too. That's like he was, I'm always leery of the guy who there's an inexplicable loss of effectiveness, especially when there's an elbow injury surrounding it. And his whiff rate was down after he returned from that elbow, like way down, like one of the worst in baseball. And so, you know, the fact that it's not like he's getting a ton of wifts this spring, I'm still, like that's that's the I just I can't draft Zach Gallen like it would have to be one of my last picks if he somehow makes it that long I just yeah I I it's about as confident as I've ever felt a pitcher is going to have Tommy John surgery at some point I'm not there I don't feel comfortable projecting predicting injuries either way but I like I think you need to be very skeptical of him at this point and look it may still be worth driving

drafting him at this range, but there are other pitchers who I think are probably more worth the gamble, given everything going on with Galen. All right. Let's catch people up. Scott, you selected Adelberto Mondesie. Got my third basement, baby.

Oh, geez. All right. Well, obviously this is not his preferred format, but we're in round 16, and I believe that was pick 185. I will tell you. Austin Riley averaged 3.06 fantasy

points per game last year. You know how many points per game Ad Alberto Mondesi averaged like 18 games he played or whatever? 3.07 more than Riley. Yeah. No, he'll be fine in this format if he stays healthy. Obviously, it's not as worth the risk in this format

because you don't need stolen bases or whatever, but stolen bases are worth two points apiece. So as long as that Alberto Montesies he's healthy. He should be a fine starter for me. It's just what are the odds of that, you know? Oh, right. I should probably stop looking up Adelberto Monacy stats

and realize that I'm on the clock. So I'll catch people up there. So Frank, that look you made, was that for Scott's pick or mine? That was definitely for your pick. So we're going to talk about that in just a second. Oh, okay. I'm going to go ahead and select Hunter Renfro to be my third

outfielder, so take that Scott. He won't be on your team. Hello, Frank. What are you doing to me? I'm sorry, bud. That's fine. You take him. I don't need him.

I'm over him. I was looking up, I was looking up Mondesies' points per game in previous seasons. So, all right, he was 2.8 in 2020. He was 3.2 in 2019. So he still was very good. All right, so let's catch people up.

After Monase, Chris elected Hunter Green. And then Chris Taylor, Casey Mize, Jose Orchiti, Stronger-Kiddy pick. I was looking at him as well. Thai France, I took Hunter Renfro, and then Corey Canadian. able. Hunter Green was just named to the opening day roster. He'll be the fourth starter in the

Cincinnati Reds rotation to open the season. And Chris, what do you think about the, the upside here of Hunter Green? I mean, he throws incredibly hard. He may actually throw 106 innings last season. So even though that was his first, I mean, really his first extended run as a professionally, he turned 68 in 18th in 2018 before that. But yeah, he was at double A and AAA last season, 31.7% strikeout rate between the two levels, 21 years old at AA and AAA 22 this season. I don't know. It's upside.

That's all it is. It's a super talented pitcher number two overall pick in the draft, who's making the leap to the majors after only 179 innings. Reds seem to think he's ready, and he's really, really talented. So I don't know. Why not take the chance here at this point in the draft, especially when pitching has been so hard to come by.

You know, it's, why not see if I can get an upside guy there and then, you know, focus on filling out my bench with perhaps more safe picks. Yeah, I wonder how aggressive they'll be on a per game basis with his enemies workload. You know, will he often go more than five innings per start? But in those five innings, he could be very good. Again, he throws incredibly hard, 100 miles per hour,

apparently has a wipeout slider and he actually threw more innings last year than I thought so he's right around I think it was like 106 innings last year so you know if they want him in the rotation for the entirety of the season maybe he can get to like 130 140 innings I don't think that's crazy for Hunter Green to kick off round 17

I think 150 is probably a reasonable you know probably closer to the ceiling than the floor but you know a 50 inning jump isn't out of the question. Yeah, he just has to perform. I mean, if he does, they're going to leave him in the rotation.

You know, if he's not doing so well by the time Castillo and Mike Minor are ready to return, then, you know, unfortunately, it might be a casualty sent back to the miners. Here in round 17, Randall Gritchick, very strong pick, 193rd overall. I selected John Gray. He's my seventh starting pitcher.

He'll be the opening day starter for the Texas Rangers. And then DJ LaMayhew, Yusay Kukuchi, O'Neil Cruz. All right. Interesting. Yeah, I was getting ready to take him. In the middle of round 17, still lots of upside. If I didn't already have Tatease. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's a good point, Chris, because you can only afford to, I guess, stash so many players, right?

So you've got to keep that in mind. Tatis has a freebie because he gets to go in the IL spot. True. That's nice. But Cruz, you have to have in one of your five bench spots, which reduces SP streaming options. You really need them to come up quickly. if you're going to invest in him in a head-to-head points league. And there are no guarantees, but hopefully he does.

At this point, it's obviously worth the risk. After O'Neo Cruz, Hermann Marquez, who is very frustrating to figure out when you want to pitch him, but he typically does go very deep into his starts. He's a workhorse. So if nothing else, he'll provide innings. I just don't know how great those endings will be. Chris, you're back up here.

And, ooh, you're going with the upside prospect pitchers at this point, and you select Reed Detmer's. Tell us about him. I mean, look, this is exactly what happened in the last head-to-head points draft we did that Scott was talking about earlier where you would start to see pitchers drafted in this range. You're like, wow, that's really early for them. But relative to, you know, actual players, like other players available, it's not really that early. So, I don't know, like in a 12-team points league, Detemers isn't a must-draft guy, but I like him.

Quite a bit, quite a bit more than most, I think. And let's see. I drafted him 225th overall in that previous one. 200 or 199th year. So a little bit of inflation there, but that's fine. All right. And then next pick, Scott selects Alex Kirillov. Are you starting Alex Kirillov, Scotty?

Yeah. Oh, my bench is, I've drafted so many. I have only two binge spots left. I got some lineup to fill out here still. because I drafted so many, I kept drafting pitchers for a while there. You know, Savale and Hendricks and Cindergarde. They're all technically on my bench.

All right. So Kirloff is your third outfielder. And then after you selected him, we see Jordan Montgomery, Alex Verdugo, and Mitch Keller, someone who's also been in the news recently, spring training, velocity way up, three miles per hour on seemingly all of its pitches.

and he's looked really good so far. What I really like out of Mitch Keller Spring is that he's only walked one batter. Walks have been, along with many other things, you know, getting hit hard, have been big issues for Mitch Keller. So I like that he's only walked one through three starts so far. I think he has either seven or eight strikeouts

to that one walk. So I'm intrigued. He's got the slider, he's got the curveball, and increased velocity here on the fastball. Trent Grisham to finish out round 17. and another prospect, an upside play to kick off round 18. Bryson Stott with the Philadelphia Phillies. He's been playing shortstop, third base in spring training.

And Scott, I mean, it's growing more and more likely that Stott might actually be on the opening day roster for them. Yes, it is. Yeah, I mean, Alec Bohm is the defensive liabilities. We talked about, what, an hour ago at this point? And he was a disaster at the play last year, and he's been a disaster this spring, at least last I'd looked.

So Stott is, I mean, I kind of think he's the favorite at this point to take the third base job. Boehm has options. They can send him down, have him work on his issues there. And he's a great play discipline guy, so it makes sense in a points league

to take a chance on him. All right. After Bryson Stott, Jared Walsh, look, we don't like drafting Jared Walsh, but this is pretty late. 18th round, 206th overall. He still was pretty good last year. He was very good, so I want to give him credit.

You know what? I think the reports of the angels looking for a platoon option for him have turned off basically anybody who was on to Jared Walsh, which may be a little bit of an overreaction because part of that story was also, we're going to give him another chance against left-handers. But if it goes as poorly as it did last year, we want to have options.

Which is just smart team building. After Jared Walsh, we see Chris Paddock, who is battling for one of the final rotation spots with the Padres, Mark Malianson. And Scott, you are back up. Do you know who you're going to draft? I do. I'm going to take another upside play here after doing Kierloff last time. I'm going to go for Spencer Torkelson. Ooh. Who was a high walk guy in the miners. and hopefully we'll continue to be in the majors.

I think it's pretty much a done deal. He's going to start for the Tigers at first base this year. And everyone keeps drafting pitchers. So maybe I should have taken one of those instead. Yeah, McKenzie Gore goes two picks later, and I was hoping to get him, but that's fine. Yep. And I thought I moved McKenzie Gore up enough in my rankings,

but clearly I didn't because he was not showing up on my page, and I would have rather taken him. then the last couple of guys I took so I will do that now for next time Spencer Torkelson by the way at three different levels last year

here were his walk rates 17% 14% 13% the OBP at each of those levels 440, 373, 350 so you're right Scott lots of walks and hopefully lots of home runs as well after Torkelson Chris selected Josiah Gray

then McKenzie Gore and Zach Plesack, our old friend from last year. Good old Zach Plesack. Pleasack was the number two guy in my queue. I like him. I like drafting him this season in a points league late. Wow, Chris. Such a hypocrite.

You didn't even like Zach Plesack. I know. I know. I am a hypocrite. I prefer to think of him as more like a hipster. You know, he's into those old trends. Yeah, but then. No, but that would be I would have liked Zach Pleasack before everyone else did.

You know, do hypocrite and hipster share the same root word? Something to ponder. These guys are crushing me, man. I wanted Riley Green, and he goes two picks before me here. I mean, it's just every prospect I feel like has been selected already. So, Nick La Dolo, just another one. He might be the fifth starter for the Reds. We don't know that exactly for sure yet.

Which is interesting, because all the prospects were bad last year. Yes. Yeah, I have a theory this year is going to be a banner year for prospects, though. I had such a hard time narrowing down that top 10 prospects to stash list after already eliminated. Oh, I didn't mean to do that. I feel like the bottleneck from 2020 when there was no minor league season is about to be relieved and it's just going to be a flood of talent.

What a rookie mistake. What did you do, Frank? I selected a Tampa Bay pitcher who I did not mean to select, but I will not undo the pick. this is not a Sean Murphy, Sean Mania situation. I'll stick with it. I do like Andrew Kittridge regardless, but that is not the player that I wanted to select. I got all flustered because I wanted Riley Green and I got sniped, so that stinks.

All right, I guess I'll just go ahead and select who I was going to anyway, and I don't know. I'll probably just drop Andrew Kittridge. It's happened to all of us at this point now. Yeah. So I wanted Drew Rasmussen because he has SPARP eligibility, and he was actually pretty good for Tampa Bay last year. looks like he's penciled in as the second starter in their rotation. Again, like, their rotation is not very good right now.

And I think that they need something out of Drew Rasmussen. And again, he was good. And he has RP eligibility. So I'll take the shot. For what it's worth, I would have totally let you back up that pick. It's hard to draft. I would not have. I wasn't even going to present that as a possibility

because, no, we made Scott stick with it. And that's fine. Yeah, I'll just... Anybody who tells me... We made Chris stick with it. Well, I don't know. That was more... That was more of a strategic error than a...

Yeah. Like a process error. No. Wasn't it... Didn't you have David Fletcher in your queue or something like that? You forgot you already had a player at the position, right? Wasn't that the issue? Yeah.

I didn't have a... I only had utility left. Well, good thing David Fletcher was named the opening day shortstop, Chris. So there you go. Oh, I mean, look, he's worth drafting in a Roto league. Is he, though? Not in your utility spot. Yeah, but not for your utility spot.

All right, let's catch people up. After my Andrew Kittridge blunder at the end of round 18, Luis Patino and Bailey Oberwent. I think the Oberpick is fantastic. He does really nice walk rate last year. He just does not walk anybody. And he's looked pretty good so far in the spring. I selected Drew Rasmussen, and then Yuli Gareel,

Scott Barlow, Wascarinoa. Marco Gonzalez, and Chris, which prospect starting pitch are you going to select now? So I was thinking, I think I'm probably actually going to go the opposite direction. Oh! Draft a guy that I don't know if I've mentioned on this podcast, but

yeah, we're going to go with Corey Klover. All right. Hey, also part of that Tampa Bay rotation. They need length from some of their starters, and, you know, Corey Klobber is a veteran in that rotation. It wasn't terrible. last season. He wasn't like,

the argument last year about Cory Kluber was, like I was anti-Core Kluber because I thought people were hoping he could be really, really good. And I didn't think he could be that. But in a points league,

you know, maybe he can give me some decent production when I need him, you know, especially in a two-star week or something like that. Yes,

there's a possibility. A Scott W. wrote in the chat, what a blast, everyone. And I legitimately was kind of mind-blown for a second because I didn't, I was like,

Scott's on the clock. I don't think that he would be writing that. So I guess it's Scott Wolf, our other Scott W. here in the draft. But Scott, you are up. So who would you like to select? Yeah, I'm glad he's just, you know, he's just sharing platitudes, basically, in the chat room. That's considerate of him.

He's not going on a vulgar tirade or anything. Appreciate that, Scott Wolf. Yes, please don't do that now just because Scott brought it up. That would not be great. You selected Nestor Cortez and then Lance McCullors. not a bad pick at this point. I mean, I don't know if we'll get anything

from McCullors, but again, there's three IL spots, so not a bad stash opportunity. Alejandro Kirk, uh, if he just plays, I don't know,

let's say the Blue Jays have six games in a week. He catches two of them, D.Hs the other two. If he gives you four games, I'm happy. And this is a format where he should be really good in. I, like,

I'm beginning to reach like salivation levels of, desire for Alhantric, to the point that I briefly had the thought, can I take him for my bench even though I have Salvador Perez? And obviously, I can't. That's just, you don't have the roster space for that in a head-to-head points league. You know, when you said salivation levels, I thought you were going to say Salvador Perez. Sal, yeah, salvi levels of desire. That almost works, yeah. Well, I guess the only format where you would wind up with him, Scott, is a two-catcher league, right? Because, I mean, no.

Well, if I drafted Salvador Perez. Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean. If I miss out on Salvador Perez, he's probably, I'd say Alejandro Kirk for where he generally goes is the most likely catcher for me to draft if I miss out on Salvi. There's a chance I'll draft somebody before then if I like the value, Mitch Garver, Dalton Vars show, somebody like that. but most likely it's going to be Salvi who I'm tempted I think I'm going to go ahead and move him up in my rankings to right behind Garver eighth at the position

all right let's see what else has happened after Alejandro Kirk Yohan Moncada Ryan McMahon that finishes out round 19 and then Taylor Rogers Taylor Rogers the hype is growing the ADP for those who play in rhodo leagues or high stakes leagues

has been way on the rise. So lots of optimism for Taylor Rogers. Then Christian Javier, Kyle Gibson, Stephen Mats, and Scott, you are back up. Let's see. I would imagine you only have bench spots to fill at this point. No, I don't.

I have a relief pitcher spot. Oh, okay. And I think I'm going to fill it. I kind of wanted to wait until the end just on principle, but all the sparks are gone that are worth drafting. And, you know, I can't,

I can't lean on Dylan Floro anymore because he's not going to be. going to be healthy to start the year. I can't lean on Joe Barlow either, it turns out. Scott Barlow is still fine, but Joe Barlow. Oddly, Chris Woodward, we didn't have a direct quote, I don't think, but the Rangers Beat Rider for MLB.com in one of those predicting the opening day roster pieces, she said that Chris Woodward, because the, because expectations are higher for the Rangers now, he doesn't want Joe Barlow in the closer role. He'd rather go with a veteran there. which I'm not sure I follow that logic and how higher the expectations really.

But I mean, Joe Barlow is not interesting except for the fact that he'd be getting saves. Yeah. No, I saw that exact report just either earlier today or yesterday, and I'm happy you brought that up. So I think we all need to collectively lower Joe Barlow and our expectations for him this season. Like, I still think he's the top rangers reliever to draft because the alternatives are like Spencer Patton and Greg Holland. Like, how likely are they to keep the role?

But yeah, I mean, it's a mess. It's kind of like the pirate situation where it's a mess of not very good options for a not very good team. Yeah. All right. I am not going to change my positions because just in case these two gentlemen ahead of me are watching on YouTube, they've been crushing me all drafts. So I don't want them to have any indication of what I'm going to do here

because, again, it's been rough. This is a real... Did we mention I drafted Matt Barnes? I'm not sure I actually said the name of the receiver I drafted. I don't think that you did, but yes, you selected that. For the podcast audience, it was Matt Barnes. By the way, look, if either of you guys are interested in Andrew Kittridge, like, I will legitimately trade you here.

So before I drop them, I'll just kind of throw them out there in case anyone wants to trade me for Andrew Kittridge. I still like him. Maybe I'll just hold them. I don't know. I really want to play a spark, but maybe Jerusalem isn't even that good. We'll see. after Scott selected Matt Barnes

Chris took Lutrovino I saw a report recently that they believe he will be the first first one up there for saves which is what we mostly expected we've heard some we've heard some rumblings about Lutrovina about A.J. Puck

then Gary Sanchez, Alias Diaz, Edward Cabrera and the pick that I wanted was Stephen Strasbourg and he goes one pick before me He's set to make a Grape Free League debut right? We have IL spots

available. So I figured, hey, why not, you know, just use one of them? And if I could get anything out of Strasbourg, that would be great. But alas. Was not to be. They have just been crushing me this entire time. So there is actually one more SPARP eligible player I learned about today. Oh, Nick Martinez. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's a good call. Nick Martinez is, I think he's basically wrapped up the fifth starter job for the Padres. They gave him some money this all. season. He's returning from Japan where apparently he reinvented himself. He's looked really good in spring training. I think he threw like four more scoreless endings on Wednesday. Yeah, he's going to have a job and he has SPARP eligibility in this format. So I think, yeah, this late, you know, take a shot.

Him, Drew Rasmussen, see what happens. It's a four-year commitment they made to him. So like, they must be pretty convinced to give him a four-year deal. I think skepticism is warranted. And and with McKenzie Gore coming on, they have alternatives. The Padres do, but yeah, I agree. Nick Martinez.

There's no much there out there. Oh. Let me see if I could find him now. Oh, no. I think I know who you're talking about

and if it is who I'm thinking about. Oh, well, actually, yeah, that person's interesting too. Hmm. All right. Well,

maybe you'll select him, Chris, and then we can talk about him. Or I'll just wait to the... No, I'm not going to select him. Is he somebody who's supposed to be in the rotation? Yeah. Oh, actually,

there is quite a few. He was in the rotation last year too. Okay. Yeah, there is a few here that I noticed. At least one. There's one who's not very good. That one. We'll talk about him once the draft is over.

We're in the final round of this. I mean, it's 240 second overall. So chances are none of them are very good. Well, you know, but there are like Nate Pearson's out there. He has a lot of upside. But he doesn't have a spot. There's Carlos Hernandez. Yeah, that's a Carlos Hernandez.

That's one of three. I think there are three sparks left. who will likely be in a rotation to start this year. Okay. Yes. Like, Alec Mills and Jose Cantana are probably in their respective rotations, right? Yes. Not, yeah, who's drafting them?

Same thing for Zach Thompson with the Pirates and then... Jack Thompson's not totally without interest. Oh, good, good job there, Frank. I didn't think of Matt Brash. Boy, that's, you know, I hadn't completely updated my starting pitcher rankings. I updated them just... I updated them just before. Scott. I was like, I was scrolling through ADP.

I was like, all right, let me find all of the hype guys throughout spring, all the prospects, and I just went and moved them all up the rankings. Matt Brash, awesome slider, throws mid to upper 90s fastball. I think he's going to be the fifth starter in the Mariners rotation to open the season.

I think he's earned that. He's looked good in the spring. And yeah, he's someone that comes with intrigue. So I'm drafting him late, very late in my drafts. I don't know if I mentioned these two picks, Camillo Doval went 240th, and then Jameson to kick off round 21. I took Matt Brash and then Brandon Belt. If you need a utility hitter at this point, he should be very good. As should be Connor Joe.

I love him. I guess not enough to draft him, though. You know, I've heard some scouts think Matt Brash's personality fits better in the closer's role. Is that, I, am, are you mean? Yep. I don't know. All right. Yeah, 100%.

I didn't know how I wanted to... That's one of this. I didn't know. Just a dumb joke. All right. That was like a... I was gonna say like, that's a dad joke. And I was like, yeah, you know, Chris is like a technically,

he's like a cat dog dad. So something. I'm an uncle. That makes sense. After Connor Joe, Luis Erias, who will open the season on the IL due to a quad injury. Still could be very good in this format. He had a double digit walk rate last year.

obviously Chris and I had a lot of intrigue in him before getting hurt. And then, Brian Hayes, Chris, you selected Eliezer Hernandez. He's having a very strong spring. I debated him or Matt Brash with my pig, actually. Yeah,

I think Elias Hernandez is pretty interesting in this format. Obviously, he's probably not going to get you very many quality starts at all because he very rarely pitches deep into games. But we're going quite deep at starting pitcher, and I've taken a lot of weird flyers.

So getting as many darts on the board as I can at starting pitcher in this league. Fernando Tatis is my only bench hitter. Yeah, I think both Scott and I only have pitchers on our bench. So that's typically the case in these head-to-points leagues. Yeah, I mean, Flaherty is going to go on the aisle for me right away, obviously, and maybe I'll pick up a bat then. Yeah, I think that's, I'm going to put Tatis on the aisle and pick up a pick up a bat, hopefully. Right.

And there will be good ones available. I'm a little surprised Andrew Heaney was still available just because there are some people who are really, really into drafting him. He's shown good bat-missing ability in the past, but just got clobbered by home runs, and they're hoping the Dodgers can work with their magic on him. And he's apparently, they've been trying to teach him this breaking ball that they teach a lot of their pitchers.

They call it a sweeper. I don't know what it's technically classified as. The sweeping breaking ball that I know. So I know just the report of that kind of renewed enthusiasm throughout the fantasy industry for Andrew Heaney. I'm majorly skeptical, but nobody else wanted him. So I guess I'll see if everyone else is right about him. Well, there it is. I mean, it's round 21, Scott.

So I mean, there's no risk. If he's bad, his first couple of runs through the rotation, then you'll just drop him anyway. And how did we finish this one out? Taiwan Walker, Gregory Soto, Eduardo Escobar, and Mr. Irrelevant, Nick Povetta. All right, so there we are. Listener League number one, head-to-head points in the books. We still got a little bit of time here left, so let's quickly run through each of our teams. Not everyone's team, but each of us three, and then we will wrap it up.

Scott, we'll start with your squad. You've got Salvador Perez, Josh Bell, Jose Al-Tuvae, Adel-Tuvae, Adel-Mondisi, and Bobichette in your infield, then Kyle Schwerber, Alex Kirilloff, Brian Reynolds, and Spencer Torkelson as your outfield and utility bat. Then you've got Adam Wainwright, Scherzer, Charlie Morton,

U. Darvish, Jack Flerty as your starters. Of course, you know, you'll throw Flarity on the IL to start the season. And then you've got Matt Barnes, Kopeck at Relief Pitcher, your bench filled with pitchers, Noah Cindergarde, Andrew Heaney, Kyle Hendrix, Aaron Savale,

and Nestor Cortez. What do you think? I'm pretty happy with it. I'm pretty happy with that. You can tell the three spots in my hitter lineup where I'm just like, okay, there aren't any hitters worth taking anymore. So I'm just going to keep taking pitchers for a while. But I filled those spots with upside plays in Ad Alberto Mondesie at third base.

And then Kiroloff and now, Spence or Torkelson at Utility. You know, if they live up to their potential, they'll be great starters for me. If they don't, there's going to be an abundant waiver wire to turn to. So I feel like having six solid hitters in those nine spots and a better catcher than anybody, of course, in Salvador Perez.

I feel like it's strong. And I feel like my, for maybe the ways where I was willing to take a hit in that starting lineup, my pitching staff, the strength of it shows up. We did a head-to-head mock draft a while ago where my lineup looked kind of weak and I wasn't sure the pitching staff looked strong enough to make up for it.

But I think this one does. I mean, Scherrard & Darvish's great top three. All of them have, like any of them could compete for the Cy Young Award this year. And I don't think anybody bat an eye at that. Adam Wainwright is the four. I reached for him a little, but I think he's undervalued. He was a top 10 pitcher in this format last year. Flaherty, of course, has upside.

And while he's gone, Cindergarde will fill in for him. And even on my bench, I have pitchers who, you know, Kyle Hendricks and Aaron Savale, I think, are both great values in this format since they go so deep into games. And obviously, volume counts for a lot at starting pitcher. So, yeah, I'm really happy with this team. All right. Yeah, I think the top three starting pitchers there really like it. Wainwright makes sense for this format.

The bench, you've got Hendricks and Savale, who both respectively go very deep into their starts. So, yeah, I think it works out. You'll be able to fill in there while Jack Flaherty is on the IL. I think it's a pretty good team. It's, man, I was just thinking about my pitching staff, and we'll get to it in just a little bit. It's not feeling great about the pitching staff. Let's take a look at Chris's team.

He's got Will Smith as his catcher, Reese Hoskins, the pocket, respect, Jake Cronowardt, then Chris Bryant, Zander Bogartz in your infield, Mike Trout, Joe Adele, Jared Kelnick, and Shohei Otani. I just realized you have three Angels hitters on your team. Yeah, that's pretty awesome.

An angel stack. Angels win the pendant. And then for your pitchers, you've got Robbie Ray, Eduardo Rodriguez, Dylan Sees, Hunter Green, and Patrick Sandoval as your starters. You've got Aaron Ashby and Lutrovino as your relievers. On the bench, Kluber, Tatis, Eliezer Hernandez, Reed Detmer's, Josiah Gray. You know, Chris, just reading through now, I was like, it looks like there's something missing, and then I got to the bench, and I remembered you have Fernando Tatis.

Yeah, there's a pitcher missing, I think, and it's because of Fernando Tatis. If it wasn't for Fernando Tatis, I probably would have just taken a pitcher in that range, and then it would look a lot better. But for having Fernando Tatis, I think the lineup is incredibly strong. The weakest spots are Jay Kroninworth, who's a really valuable piece that I can move into three different spots in the lineup, which is super valuable. When you look at the bench that I have, which doesn't have any hitters. And then two huge upside outfielder's in Jared Kalinick and Joe Adel are my other weak spots.

And I think at least one of them is going to be very good, potentially both of them. But yeah, the pitching staff You'd rather go with an upside play like that Not you specifically, but just the audience You'd rather go in a format this shallow You'd rather take the shot on upside Than go with like a Hunter Renfro As much as I like Hunter Renfro

You know the upside is only so high Well, and you look at the bench Or the guys who are available on waivers And like Robbie Gross and Michael Brantley Avicel Garcia Charlie Blackman, Dylan Carlson Like any of those guys could be a fine start if Joe Adelaan and Jared Kalanick flop.

So that's why I was aiming for upset with those guys. Now you got me rethinking my Hunter Renfro pick too, Scott. Oh, man. Oh, you got him pretty well. He could get first base eligibility. Oh, is that a thing? Is that happening? Yeah, he's been working out of first base.

Oh, nice. All right. That's something I saw. But yeah, no, it's the reason I took so many pitchers and so many upside pitchers, at least to my eyes, is, because I'm going to need, you know, I'm going to need someone to step up at starting pitcher to make up for the fact

that I did take, you know, Fernando Tatis in a spot where I would prefer to have a starter available. It's just, you know, that may not happen until June. Yep. You made that sacrifice, but hey, it's something that we were all considering. At least Scott was something that I was thinking about doing as well.

We've got three IL spots in this league. So you'll stash Fernando Tatis. And so whenever he returns, hopefully in June. All right, let's take a look at my team here. Before we wrap up, I've got Cabr Ruiz as my catcher. Then Vladimir Guerrero, Jorge Polanco, Josh Donaldson, Wander Franco as my infield. Then I've got Hunter Renfro, Cody Bellinger, Yerdon Alvarez, and Bobby Witt as my outfield and U-till. I originally drafted Bobby Witt to be my third baseman. And then Josh Donaldson just lasted a long time. So I wound up

drafting him as well. There's a good chance we'll be your third basement at some point. Yeah, that's definitely fair. And I'll either drop Donaldson, use him at U-Till or I don't know, find whoever is hot at that point. In an aisle spot. What I was thinking. Yeah. Come on, guys. Dunk it on my Yankees.

Come on. My starting pitchers. I've got Zach Wheeler, Justin Verlander, Chris Bassett, Shane McClanahan, Logan Gilbert, my relievers,

Andrew Kittridge, Jordan Romano. That's picking the draft. And on my bench, all pitchers, Alex Wood, John Gray, Nick Martinez,

Drew Rasmussen, and Matt Brash. Just looking at it now. I think it's all right. I wish I had a little bit more quality depth at starting pitcher up top. I like Wheeler and Verlander. Again, Bassett was the high floor play

to kind of compliment Shane McClainahan and Logan Gilbert at the time. You know, obviously those two guys have breakout potential. I love the hitters that I came away with. I think, you know, some of these guys might be a little bit too, you know, boomer bus, Cabot Ruiz, Bobby Whit,

let's see what those guys can do. Wander Franco in year two. It's a fun team. I just, I think it's a little bit more boomer bust than I'm used to. I think it's good. I like all three of our teams. I think we did a good job despite drafting

against people who knew we're going to mimic us. It wasn't so bad. It wasn't so, well, I don't know. You seem to have a hard time with it, Frank, at your end of the draft. Sandy O'Conra. Ah, Sandy.

It wasn't ideal. And I ended up with a lot of guys who I usually don't draft as a result of it, but that'll happen. Like, this is the first time I've taken Delencies. But, you know, that'll happen when your guys are getting drafted. Hey, and that's exactly what Scott let off this entire draft by saying. He said, you know, things are going to get wacky. We might draft players that we're not used to because for that exact reason.

Obviously, these listeners are paying attention and they like a lot of the same players as we do. All right, we're going to wrap there. If you're still watching or you're watching this on demand afterwards on YouTube, let us know in the comments whose team you like best between Scott, Chris and myself. and we're going to wrap there for those two. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow.

Bye-bye.